I don't think anyone will be offended when I say that, with the exceptions of Ronald Reagan, Charlton Heston and a few others, Hollywood, politically speaking, leans pretty far left.
It's a fact that comes into sharp focus during election years, when actors abandon sets and studios for the campaign trail, stumping for favorite candidates and platforms. The careful observer also might discover some of the party politic in the movies that get made. Be it an environmentalist's victory over big business or an eager politician's championing inner-city aid, movies are always willing to give a hero with liberal leanings plenty of screen time.
Picket lines have proved to be particularly popular. With its history of violence, heated emotions and high drama, the American labor movement has enticed generation after generation of politically minded movie makers to look for the union label. In honor of Labor Day, here are a few outstanding examples:
NORMA RAE (1979): A classic setup/payoff scenario, Norma Rae stars Sally Field as a mill worker pressed into action as a union organizer. The plot progressed pretty much as expected, with union victory all but inevitable by the final reel. Still, Ms. Field's portrayal as a young woman experiencing a political awakening was, and remains, a revelation.
HOFFA (1992): In the American labor movement, Jimmy Hoffa, the infamous Teamster leader, looms larger than life, so larger-than-life Jack Nicholson was asked to fill his shoes. What is surprising is Mr. Nicholson's low-key and controlled performance. Rather than embellish the character of Hoffa with grand gestures in classic Nicholson style, he portrays him with a hard-nosed quietness not usually associated with the kinetic actor.
HARLAN COUNTY USA (1976): A harrowing documentary, filmed over four years, of a Kentucky coal-mining community, Harlan County offers a rare insight into a world that is mostly gone. Shot as an argument in favor of organizing mine workers, the film brought safer working conditions and higher wages to the men and women who toiled underground. Most of the mining companies profiled in Harlan County have long since pulled out of the region.
MODERN TIMES (1936): Less about the labor movement than the toils of the common laborer, this political comedy, the last of Charlie Chaplin's true silent films, features his Little Tramp character struggling to survive in an industrial world. The film's most famous sequence features Chaplin frantically trying to maintain complex machinery while becoming hopelessly enmeshed in its gears.
The symbolism might be a little heavy-handed, but the message is certainly clear.
MATEWAN (1987): Based on an actual incident, this story of a violent union conflict in a West Virginia mining community successfully incorporates issues of race, class and politics into a simple story of men and women who find themselves at odds with the only life they have ever known.
Reach Steven Uhles at (706) 823-3626 or steven.uhles@augustachronicle.com.
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